Polar Impact Hypothesis v4.0: A Unified Catastrophist Framework — Axial Impact, Atlantis, Plate Tectonic Origin, Antarctic Formation, Human Pigmentation, Ancient Cosmological Memory, Civilization Archetypes, and Lunar Origin

The Polar Impact Hypothesis v4.0 integrates eight propositions into a unified catastrophist framework explaining Earth's geological, biological, cultural, and lunar configuration as consequences of a single event: a massive bolide impact on the proto-Arctic supercontinent Borealia. (A) Earth's rotational axis was originally parallel to its orbital plane (0° obliquity); the impact caused the current ~23.5° tilt. (B) Borealia is the physical referent of the Atlantis legend. (C) The impact initiated plate tectonic motion from a previously static crust. (D) Antipodal hammer shock at the South Pole formed Antarctica as a compression dome. (E) Three pre-impact solar environments drove UV-adaptive human pigmentation differentiation. (F) The three major schools of ancient Chinese cosmology (蓋天説 Gai Tian, 宣夜説 Xuan Ye, 渾天説 Hun Tian) encode these environments as cultural memory. (G) The three environments generated three irreducibly distinct civilization archetypes: communal-ecological (North Polar / 炎天 / jungle abundance), harmonic-philosophical (Equatorial / 陰陽 / balanced light), and technological-expansionist (South Polar / 永夜 / existential necessity of fire, hunting, and tool development). (H) The impacting bolide, or its ejected material, formed the Moon — collapsing the standard Theia impact and plate tectonic initiation into a single event. Eight falsifiable predictions are offered. V=N/D: one event, eight domains of explanatory coherence.